A Head Start on Christmas

What started my jam making all off was blog posst on making orange marmalade last year this time.  K and I both like marmalade and I thought that if others are doing it so could I. 

It took me a while to gather together the right equipment so I really got started in early summer with strawberry jam.  In the back of my head my ultimate goal was orange marmalade.  This was the thought that propelled me through the holidays. 

Once January hit I got cold feet.  Seville oranges and Meyer lemons though available in Kansas City are extremely expensive.  Most of the recipes I found did not use pectin.  Could I do this? 

Finally I grabbed Martha Stewart's recipe that had gotten a good review last year, bought regular naval oranges and lemon, and got to zesting. 

The first two batches I made I experimented with quantities of oranges.  The recipe calls for 8 oranges.  I had smallish oranges so I used 11.  The next batch I had large oranges and use 6.  I most likely over cooked slightly both batches.  Martha says to cook the jam to 220 - 222 degrees.  At that point the jam should not spread when dropped onto a frozen plate.  Well it did spread.  I cooked it to about 224-225 degrees.  At that point it not only did the drop not spread but it held it's shape when pushed and had a slight film per the recipe.  The results, however, yielded a jam that was more solid than I would like. 

In my final batch I substituted orange juice for the water and cooked the jam to approximately 223 - 224 degrees.  The jam held its shape when pushed but did not have a film.  This yielded a "perfect" consistancy.  I am as of yet undecided about the orange juice.  There is definitely that added "umph" but time will tell whether I want to try adding orange juice again.

I must say that at this point I am feeling pretty good.  It is the middle of February and I am 25 jars of jam closer to ready being ready for Christmas.